SCEP Syndicat canadien des communications, de l'énergie et du papier

Employees of Canstar Community News represented by CEP Local 191 (the Media Union of Manitoba and N.W. Ontario) voted on a first collective agreement today that will merge the community news operation with the Winnipeg Free Press.

About 30 employees of Canstar are now part of the Winnipeg Free Press contract after today’s vote. Canstar publishes free weekly neighbourhood-zoned newspapers such as The Herald, The Metro, The Times, The Headliner and The Lance, as well as the entertainment weekly Uptown and The Prime Times, a seniors’ publication. Canstar is owned by FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership ("FPLP"), which also owns the Winnipeg Free Press and The Brandon Sun.

CEP became the bargaining agent for Canstar employees in Editorial, Advertising, Creative Services, and Distribution in May 2007. After a protracted and difficult set of negotiations the parties determined that the long-term success of Canstar’s publications and its employees lay in a merger with its “sister” publication, the Free Press.

Many employees will receive a raise in pay and take part in the Free Press benefits package, including pension. Sadly, the merger will result in job loss for five Canstar employees in the bargaining unit. CEP Local 191 bargained recall rights for three of those employees in Creative Services (Graphic Designers). The first contract deal also restructures the advertising department for a more equitable distribution of sales accounts for commissioned sales reps.

“This was a difficult and, at times, troubling, set of negotiations,” said CEP National Representative Paul McKie. “But the committee believed, and the members have confirmed with their vote, that this was the right direction to take the newspapers.”

CEP Local 191 represents about 1,500 media workers at companies that also include The Brandon Sun, The Winnipeg Sun, Naylor Publications and the Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal. CEP represents 150,000 working people coast to coast in energy, paper, telecommunications, graphical, media and is Canada’s largest printing and media union.